We Care For Each Other / Ons Gee Om Vir Mekaar
A fitting, fair and cleanly habitation,
A fragrant garden, fruit, good vineyards too,
One's household modest and one's children few,
One's wife faithful in act and inclination.
No debts, no love-affairs, no litigation,
No relatives to share one's revenue,
No feuds, no favour from the great to sue,
Seeking in all things Virtue's approbation.
Content with little, free of all ambition,
In judgement sound, in spirit liberal,
Adehering to one's Faith without condition,
In dealing honest, passions kept in thrall,
Tending one's plants, telling one's beads thereby,
This is to wait for Death right pleasantly.
Sonnet by Christophe PLANTIN.
Translated by Frances LOBB.